we have more, patricia, what are the numbers, and why the raising eyebrows. >> reporter: the numbers we're talking about are new home sales. they dropped by more than 13% last month. sales at their lowest level since september. it's about the construction industry. retailers benefit because when people buy new homes they like to furnish them. we talked to an economist at asked him to put the numbers in perspective for us. >> it was a really low number, and that's disconcerning. it's true that you shouldn't pay

too much attention, it just shows a loss of momentum in the single family structure market. that a little troubling because that's the linchpin to the housing recovery, to the economic recovery. >> reporter: higher mortgage rates are having an impact. mortgage rates jumped a full percentage point since may, and it may start to wind down a stimulus program, but mortgage rates are still pretty low. >> thank you. today's news of a plunge of new homes sales come at a time when many americans are feeling concerned about the economy. there could be even more trouble ahead. we have the report. >> reporter: blame the federal reserve for the economic jitters we're feeling right now.

he thinks there might be enough signs out there now to allow him to ease off the gas, but some experts are not so sure that the economy is healthy enough yet to stand on its own two feet. the chief concern interest rates will leap even further than they already have. mortgage rates are up one percentage point from last year alone. and once the feds start cutting back, that could have more consequences. >> reporter: not just the cost of a loan will rise but the cost of taking out a student loan too. >> wiping down the economic stimulus will be a tough job. it's fundamentally all about the timing. >> the reason they're doing this is because they think the economy is at a certain point that it could sort of be self sustaining, it doesn't need their support any more. now that remains to be seen. there are lots of risk out there, and we could see a rate spike, which definitely would be

negative for many people. but the underlying economy, the ups and downs, while it's not what we hope for, it's not the end of the world. we're not europe. >> reporter: before you get too depressed this weekend, remember it is late august, the height of the summer season. don't expect things to become very much clearer in the fall when the next big set of economic data is expected to be published. al jazeera, new york. >> and change at the top coming to microsoft, the software maker will retire next year. a special board will be established. microsoft.

the trading system now dominates the stock markets. and wildfire burning in yosemite national park. details on park closings and detailed information just ahead. and nuclear plant in new jersey, what that means for people in the area. right after the break.

sure that stories don't escape them. >> every day a storm of views. how can you fully understand the impact unless you heard angles you hadn't considered. consider this, antonio mora brings you smart conversation that challenges the status quo. stories that matter to you. hi, my name is jonathan betz, and i'm from dallas, texas, and i'm an anchor for al jazeera america. i started in a small television station in rural arkansas. it's a part of the country that often gets overlooked. but there are a lot of fascinating people there, a lot of fascinating stories there. i like that al jazeera will pay attention to those kinds of places. what drew me to journalism is i like the idea that we are documenting history. al jazeera documents it like none other. and to be a journalist, and to be part of a team like that? that's an incredible blessing.

>> welcome back, everyone, a wildfire california doubled in size and now the fastest growing of fires across the west. the so-called rim fire is burning inside yosemite park. and firefighters are struggling to control it. melissa chan is on the scene. >> reporter: the fire has reached the western boundary of yosemite park and crossed that boundary this morning on friday. 100,000 acres destroyed. we're standing in one of the charred areas where the fire swept through in the last couple of days, still seeing smoldering smoke coming from the ashes. the number of buildings under threat have gone up from 2500 to 4500, and containment is at 2%. over the past couple of days they've had a really good run in terms of protecting buildings from the flames, but this morning they told us that the number of buildings destroyed had gone up to 16. now the good news, no deaths,

but there has been one injury. right now 2,000 fires, and now the declaration of the state of emergency means that more resources will arrive here, and hopefully over the weekend that will mean that they'll make some head way on this fire. >> the big question, is there any relief in sight across that region? >> meteorologist: there may be some relief with moisture coming up over the south, but not really anything changing over the next 24-48 hours. now the showers and thunderstorms that are developing are north of the rim fire location, and the problem with these is it's over some very dry ground, and a lot of rain may evaporate, so we could see more fires developing in this region with light rain expected from idaho, western

montana and heavy yea heavier in wyoming. temperatures goin warming up and there is not a lot of rain. although some of that rain could be tropical moisture your from tropical storm evo that just formed. we'll have more on that just a bit later. >> in new jersey the detection the low levels of radioactive water triggered an emergency shutdown at a nuclear power plant located in the southern part of the state in a community salem county. the plant remained shutdown and the inspectors believe they have found the valve that caused the leak. there is no threat to the public. >> schools all over the country are beefing up security after last year's shooting in

connecticut that left 20 children and 6 adults dead. we're keeping on an eye on one colorado school. >> reporter: brian murphy starts his day early. he gears up with his radio, gun and flack jacket are in place but instead of patrolling the streets, today he'll be watching over school kids. lieutenant murphy may look like he's on his way to the border but he is keeping out threats. >> we'll drive around making sure nothing out of the order is going on. >> reporter: for the first time all 47 elementary schools and nine middle schools will have armed police and sheriff deputies on campus. the district and local law enforcement devised the plan to use armed guards, the very same daday of the newtown shooting.

>> reporter: authorities say it's just something that must be done in light of the changing times. >> it's sad that we've come to the place where we have to have police presence, but that's the world we live in now. >> reporter: there is no guarantee that having an armed guard will prevent tragedy. >> it's 100% assurance that something is not going to happ happen. >> reporter: there are parents who say kids should not be exposed to guns at school. >> we had armed security at columbine and it didn't work. it doesn't make our children safer. >> reporter: they knew that there would be concerns but

concluded that armed law enforcement would be the best solution. >> money within the system can be used for a number of things, but safety is one of our top priorities. >> reporter: the school marshal program has caught the attendance of lieutenant murphy's fellow officers. 300 of them have signed up for school duty. >> so there is growing support to ban all performance-enhancing drugs, and we're not just talking about baseball. michael eaves is here with more on that story. >> reporter: yes, tony, a lot of sports are looking at how to test for perks for peds. they said the union led by smith is simply holding the testing hostage, and congress may be

forced to force testing in the nfl. players for the bucs have found infection mrsa. if not treated properly, mrsa can be life-threatening.

>> recapping our top stories, in a dad hassan, the admi admittedt hood shooter a has been found guilty of the rampage that left 14 soldiers dead. and sergeant robert bales received a life sentence without parole. bales pleaded guilty to the 2009 shooting spree, part of a deal to not receive death penalty. and president obama sent one of his top officials to damascus to investigate the claim of chemical weapons. for more on the chemical weapons investigation, amy joins us. good to talk to you. the u.n. says, as you know, it

wants clarity that this was an actual chemical attack near damascus. why are you so certain that chemical weapons were used and the assad regime was behind the attack. >> well, it's very clear if one looks at the videos that were up loaded shortly after the attack that these are people suffering the affects of exposure to toxic chemicals. especially children, it's difficult to coax your child to twist and convulse over a long period of time. sometimes those videos shows a child for over two minutes. so it's clear that toxic chemical was used. as for signs pointing to the assad regime, it's it was delivered by a rocket. the rebels don't have that capability at this time. they're experimenting it do-it-yourself rockets.

and the timing of the attacks. these are early morning attacks when the temperatures are low and cool. >> the assad regime would suggest that it makes no sense for this regime to launch an attack with u.n. investigators on the ground. >> that's one of the puzzling aspects here. one can look at the fact that quite frankly they may be confident that this will' not let the investigator go to these particular sites, although there is considerable pressure to allow them not just to go to the three sites that they were scheduled to go to where there were earlier attacks but to the most current sites. >> shouldn't that be the next step? shouldn't the u.n. push for the team that is on the ground right

now to get to the site outside of damascus and start investigation there? >> that would be a very constructive next step, but even if that does not occur there are constructive things that the international community can do to deter the future use of chemistry in this conflict. i'm referring to the provision of chemical defenses not just to rebel forces but to syrian civilians. before the gulf war, syria equipped it's entire population with gas masks. they need chemical detecters and nerve agent-- >> who is going to supply those kinds of materials? >> well, the united states and the united kingdom said publicly

they would provide assistance, but they're 188 countries that are members of the chemical weapons convention, and this treaty obligates its members to provide assistance to countries who are threatened with or undergoing a chemical attack. syria is not a member but this is humanitarian common sense. >> amy, good to talk to you. thank you. anti-government protests in egypt were peaceful compared to other fridays, but thousands of people still took to streets across the country. one person was killed during a protest north of cairo. al jazeera's bernard smith has more. >> reporter: egypt's anti-coup protesters have a new symbol and slogan. the four fingers are to show solidarity with the more 900 killed from the crackdown.

posters of president morsi were not present. >> this is not about morsi right now. these people did not come because of morsi. if i'm against morsi it's my right. but it's my right also that i'm beinthere were people who died t week. >> reporter: the organizers deliberately sought to avoid confrontation with residents. >> the organizers from the previous protesters are either dead, in jail or on the run. a younger generation has quickly been forced to take the reins. they have brought the appeal of the protest movement amongst egyptians. >> reporter: the protesters want to persuade those who have stayed at home to join them.

there was no visible security presence, but organizers said secret police were amongst the ground. >> if people were afraid they wouldn't come again and again like you can see here, maybe it's not the same number, but still we will not surrender without the rights of those people killed. >> reporter: on the back streets of giza the march came to an end. marchers with sticks who we were not allowed to film, made sure that marchsers were welcome. >> there has been another gang rape in the country. the victim was a 22-year-old photo journal. the attack happened in mumbai. >> reporter: yet another gang rape in india. this time a photo genera photo s

attacked about her male colleague was tied and beaten while the young woman was raped. the police have released suspects. >> around 20 teams from taken. people don't generally go to such places even in the daytime. one of the suspects have been arrested by the police. all the suspects have been identified. >> reporter: this latest attack comes eight months after a vicious gang rape in new delhi. the young woman in that case died. under immense public pressure sexual assault laws in the country were reformed but opposition politicians say little has changed. >> nobody is safe, no woman is safe. i don't know what is happening. there is no fear of law in the mind of people because they don't get punished. they get away with it.

>> reporter: mumbai's residence are shocked by this attack. >> we're living in a very safe city, but nowadays what is happening is not understandable to me. what is going through people's mind when they behave like this towards women, towards children, is there too many people in this city? >> reporter: the police have promised to throw their full weight behind this.

you more information as soon as we get it here in al jazeera. it may be san diego mayor bob filner's last day on the job. he reportedly agreed to resign as part officials in negotiation of a sexual harassment lawsuit. does filner face any more legal action with accusers go forward. it's happening right here at city hall. the closed session got under way about 40 minutes ago. there were 150 people present, many of them members of the media, of course, not only from here in san diego, but around the world. also attending the meeting were

several opponents, but also several supporters. the meeting started with an open public comment period about 40 members, 40 people members of the public signed up to peek before the council, each one being given two minutes. that is still going on as we speak. perhaps we can take a quick listen to what some of those people had to say. >> people of san diego have made her voices heard. they came out in unison to state that they do not want filner in office. we have this process set up. let him be recalled. >> vote no. allow the process pan out. do not let this man out. do not pay tax pair money to the man. taxpayers of san diego do not

support a path that broker as deal with expected to resign. >> stephanie, good to see you, thank you. as we await the kick off to football season this could be the week to nfl pre-season. we explain next in sports.

mission. >> there's more to america, more stories, more voices, more points of view.

now there's are news channel with more of what americans want to know. >> i'm ali velshi and this is "real money." this is "america tonight." sglovrjs our -- >> our news coverage reveal more of america's stories. >> celebrations for the 50th anniversary will kick off tomorrow. two washington residents who were there five decades ago share their memories. [♪ singing ] >> i was 28 when i takenne attee march, and i attended with my

father. >> 200 sang on the 28th of august. >> i'm constance, i was 13 years old, and i attended with my mother, who was in her 60s. we didn't know what participant was going to say, so if you could move that day, you were going to be at that march. >> there was a sense of feeling that this was a risky undertaking, but that sense was over taken by the view you got to do this. if i'm not going to stand up for me, who else will. >> when i think about it, you talk about policemen and soldiers, you could not move without being in contact with some authority. most surprise to go me was the fact that there were so many people who were non-africa. i had no idea that many americans felt stronger about the fact that we should have more rights than we had. the other thing that was impressive that da day, 250,000

people came to that city, and not one arrest took place. not one. >> we will not be satisfied as long as the negro in mississippi cannot vote, and the negro in new york believes he has nothing for which to vote. [applause] >> there was no way to know then that it would have the impact that it has had. there was no way we knew he would live long enough to see a black president. >> i cried because it never occurred to me that i would live along enough to see a black man as president of the united states. >> for a black man in this society there was always a need to be cautious about the way you presented yourself in public because you could end up like trayvon. i think dr. king let us understand that you still have to take the risk.

i love being a black man in america because it means that there is still hope that things can be changed without mowing down thousands of citizen the way it's happening in other parts of the world. >> it still hurts when other people don't think of you as an american. you're a black american, which means you're an american. if the rest of the country never sees us as americans we'll be struggling with the third march, the tenth march, the 15th march. i'm really hoping that the country will see that we even move together or we're going to fail as a country. [applause] >> half a century has passed and king's dream of racial equality still has not been realized,

according to a poll. when asked if black people were treated as fairly as whites. 54% at work and 48% when voting in elections. rich coauthored the study, and he joins me. look, were you surprised at all by the headline finding less than half americans feel a lot progress has been made towards achieving racial equality? >> we know there are black-white differences on a number of racial attitudes, but what was notable in this study for us was the size of those differences. those numbers you show you're looking at 30-point gaps. you rarely see that in public opinion polls on questions other than race.

>> michael eaves is more with that story. >> reporter: what are we doing with information. nfl has fallen under heavy criticism from its former players under the lack of concussion research and treatment. and some accuse the league of withholding information, that the league pressured media partner espn to pull out of an investigative project regarding head injuries in the nfl.

now, i recently spoke to former leonard marshal whose latest project, the united states of football which appears tonight looks at the correlation of football and concussions. >> what i'm trying to do with this film is take the helmet. >> the human interests in nfl players needs to come back. if it's okay to go to the stadium and clap because he makes a great play, and he gives a chance to get away from your week of work and your week of misery, and you see your favorite player make a great play, and your favorite team win a game, take a notice because what he needed then and what he needs now, there has to be a

human interest story when the cheering stops. >> when you see john mackey before he packe passed away andn you see players with demen is a and alzheimer's, you need to have a face to bring the story. we've see more of these gentlemen succumb to these injuries. >> john mackey and ralph winslow in that condition, it's difficult to shoot it, first of all, because i have a really strong connection to their lives. they invited me in because they wanted people to see it. i think as a culture we don't want to see that. we want to look away from it. we don't want to know that we're rooting for something that does this to people. when people get hit they sit there and they pray. they take them off the field. then it's this... now it's gone.

whew. we have to reevaluate what the game is, and we have to understand what we're rooting for. the biggest thing that has made a difference is guys like leonard, they're sharing their story now. they felt isolated. they're in a culture that makes them suppress their pain. they don't want to seem weak. they don't want their teammates to see that because they're in competition. they run into these problems. they don't want to at mid it because it's a sign of weakness. now what they're doing is they're getting together like a real fraternity, they're comparing stories and seeing similarities. the elephant in the room is just... it's outside of the room now. you can't ignore it. >> well, talk of concussions won't stop any of the games being played this season, and that includes this weekend. joining us now to preview the upcoming season is shawn jensen. thank you for joining us. when it comes to the pre-season,

week three is typically the most important because that's when the starters see the bulk of their playing time and some of the contenders going into the season might pre-season teams, i think a lot of teams will struggle when they face the lions defensive front. it's one of the best in the league. all those years they were poor they were able to restock with great players and they'll give a lot of teams fits. tom brady when he had time was able to complete passes but in a lot of instances he was rushed and there were fumbles by the new england patriots. i think they'll shore oh those things up but it's more the lions thanmake his pre-season d. how much can we expect him to play in that game? >> i spoke to one series.

>> shawn jensen joining us from minneapolis talking about the nfl. thank you so much. those games willing going on for the next couple of weeks as we get ready for kick off and college season. >> appreciate it. back in a moment with a check of the day for another check of weather. >> meteorologist: it's the pre-season of the weekend. we have changing temperatures coming your way. let's see if it's going up or down with the national forecast next.

>> meteorologist: it is very dry and we need the rain. these are thunderstorms, and the air is so dry that that rain evaporates before it hits the ground. this could be starting more fires in this region, just light rain coming down with these storms. heavier down across the four-corner states here as this is monsoon tropical moisture coming in from the pacific. so at least we're getting needed rain here. temperatures across the southeast are heating up, and so are the storms. there is flood warnings in effect from these storms, and there is heavy rain predicted in the next 24 hours right on the panhandle of florida up through

georgia, north and south carolina, flood warnings remain in effect. sunday and monday we dry out and temperatures will start to warm up just a bit. speaking of a change in temperatures there is cooler air coming down over the great lakes but really beginning to heat up. almost up to 90. excessive heat watches in affect for that area. cooler air is coming in from the northeast. ahead of that cool air we get rain and it moves right through southern pennsylvania and fell apart in washington, d.c. once it closer out its nice and comfortable over the weekend. look at the temperatures dropping, barely climbing over 60 degrees. that doesn't last monday, tuesday, wednesday. we're back above 80 with partly cloudy skies. take a look at the headlines coming up next.

>> hello, i'm tony harris, and you're watching al jazeera, our top stories. a tour bus carrying national guard troops has crashed in north carolina. the crash occurred in mooresville, north carolina, 250 miles north of charlotte. 54 passengers were on board and 11 transported to the hospital, one in critical condition. we have confirmed that one female soldier has been taken to the emergency department even though her condition is unknown. we'll continue to update you as we get more information. out of iraq a suicide-bomber has attacked in northern baghdad. the police confirm the latest death toll stands at 28. more ied